Why Audi's Super Bowl Ad Failed

As the determined little girl steered her homemade go-kart and zipped past the all-male competition, her father worried darkly over the challenges she’d face when she entered the workforce. “Do I tell her that despite her education, her drive, her skills, her intelligence, she will automatically be valued as less than every man she ever meets?” The 60-second Audi ad, which aired during last night’s Super Bowl, meant to demonstrate to viewers that the German automaker is committed to gender equality in the workplace.

Instead, the ad’s downbeat message turned off more people than it inspired. It also drew attention to Audi’s own record on gender equality, which is mixed at best. And it highlighted the perils that come with an attempt to hitch a corporate identity to a controversial social issue. The YouTube video of the ad has logged more dislikes (59,000) than likes (47,000). “Some of that [negative reaction] comes from a perception of a manufacturer and seller of products trying to grab an issue and align with it for their own gain,” says Julie Hennessy, a marketing professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Audi’s U.S. marketing director Loren Angelo defends the ad’s approach. “Audi is a brand that has always used the creative storytelling platform that the Super Bowl provides to talk about the brand, talk about our position and provide a point of view,” he says. Past Audi Super Bowl ads have fared better. Last year’s spot, which featured a retired astronaut who feels rejuvenated by driving an Audi R8, received rave reviews from AdAge and Vogue.

This year’s ad invites a look at Audi’s track record on promoting women to leadership roles. Audi hasno women on its six-person executive team. Its supervisory board (the German equivalent to a U.S. board of directors) is only16% women. That’s below the already-lowaverage of 20% for female representation on corporate boards of Fortune 500 firms, and significantly lower than BMW’s30%.

In defense, Audi spokeswoman Miranda Harper says the company signed theWhite House Equal Pay Pledge last year, and its graduate analyst program has a minimum requirement of 50% women. Marketing director Angelo says Audi ran an internal salary analysis, and after accounting for factors like “individual performance, experience, and tenure in the job,” it determined that it now has “equal pay for equal work.” But Harper wouldn’t comment on whether Audi has made any gender-based salary adjustments over the past two years. By contrast, companies likeSalesforce andExelon have been vocal about taking such steps.

The ad wasn’t a complete flop. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, author of bestseller Lean In, posted the ad to Facebook with kudos to Audi. “Love this#SuperBowl ad fromAudi USA, which drives home the need for equal pay for women. Now more than ever, we need ads like this which push back on gender stereotypes,” she wrote. But by inviting scrutiny of Audi’s lousy record of women in its own leadership ranks, the ad backfired. It also left viewers feeling sad about the obstacles waiting for the girl in the go-cart. “Emotionally, the power of the negatives is way more than the implicit statement they’re making,” says marketing professor Hennessy. “The net takeaway here is pretty painful.”

I cover cryptocurrencies, blockchain, fintech and investing at Forbes. I’ve also written frequently about leadership, corporate diversity and entrepreneurs. Before Forbes, I worked for ten years in marketing consulting, in roles ranging from client consulting to talent ma...